Page 1 of 1 Based on a design from 1982, the Porsche 962C was far from cutting edge by the late 1980s. Having cleaned up at Le Mans and in the World Championship, Porsche had no inclination to design and build a brand new car. The German manufacturer did allow privateers running their cars to make improvements on their own. This was a win-win situation as the Porsche name continued to feature on the forefront of international racing and selling spare components was also very lucrative for Porsche.

The single biggest weak spot of the design was the relatively straightforward sheet aluminium monocoque chassis that was not nearly as rigid as aluminium honeycomb or the latest carbon-fibre composite counterparts. Accordingly, several of the private teams commissioned replacement chassis. Among them was Team Schuppan run by Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan, who commissioned a carbon-fibre composite version of the 962C chassis from Advanced Composites, who also built the tubs for TWR Jaguar.

Using the original 962 as a mould allowed the Schuppan to simply switch out the chassis and use all the tried and trusted Porsche running gear and even the bodywork. Ready in the summer of 1989, the first of the Team Schuppan's chassis was used by Tim Lee Davey for his 962C. Porsche supported the endeavours to the extent that Davey was allowed to run the updated car with the original chassis number 962-138. The car was run with limited success but nevertheless, Davey built up another car using a second carbon-fibre chassis, which confusingly was also tagged 962-138 despite both being fielded at Le Mans in 1990.

Following Davey's exploits with his chassis, Schuppan set about building up two cars from scratch, using the latest Porsche running gear and high downforce 962C bodywork. The first car debuted at Suzuka early in 1990, finishing ninth overall. It was then raced at Le Mans to 15th overall. Following a crash later in the year, this car was rebuilt around a third monocoque with an all-new body designed by Max Bostrom of Aston Martin AMR1 fame. The second car was raced with limited success in 1991, while the Stealth body was never actually raced. The third car did appear with a conventional body at Daytona in 1992 where it placed an impressive third.

Although not particularly successful, the Team Schuppan 962Cs were illustrative of how privateers, with the help of Porsche themselves, kept the legendary racing car competitive for nearly a decade. Page 1 of 1